Learning Curve

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
Brand new week and a fresh slate. I turned a story last week, from start to finish, in one day. That was one of the goals I set for myself coming into this opportunity. I knew if I could finish a good story, a solid package in less than one day while being my own camera operator, producer, reporter, and editor, then I was on the right path.
I was mildly impressed with the outcome. After each piece I feel like there were one or two things I would like to back and fix, or do a different way. Or some kind of information omitted snuck into the piece. Chuck Goudie from ABC gave me some great advice while I was his intern. One of the lat pieces of advice was not to dwell on a story, move on to the next one, just keep moving forward to the next story. What’s done is done.
And that is the blessing and the curse of the deadline. Of course, any perfectionist who is trying to exceed people’s expectations like I am trying to do, will want that chance to improve, to tweak their work to get it one step closer to perfection. But the deadline says- you’ve done your work, you’ve checked your facts, white-balanced your shots, recorded your tracks, and this is the outcome.
I am learning and growing with these pieces now and I am starting to come into my own as a shooter and editor. My reporting skills have not failed me and those, too, seem to be improving each passing week and each passing story.
I will try to be proud of these final products while knowing that I could have done something better somewhere in my story. I will just know to save those self critical thoughts for the next story.

Roger and Me

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
Have you ever seen a rickshaw in Chicago?

If you answered no, then check out my story on the Chicago pedicab movement. I met this fascinating man named Roger Rickshaw- his real last name is Brownstone- in case you were wondering. He has 2 full time jobs- one as a financial trader and the other- hauling people around the city in one of his rickshaws.

These are amazing vehicles. I was lucky enough to get a ride from the Ogilvie Metra station to the lakefront and over to the Columbia college building at 600 S Michigan. He picked me up, we did an interview and went for a ride.

Roger is a fun guy, and an avid bicycle enthusiast. He has not owned a car since 2004. He lives and works in Chicago and goes almost everywhere on a bike.

He told me one of rickshaws cost about $4,000, he buys them from a company that makes them in Denver. He now has 18 rickshaws in his fleet. Doing the math, he has invested a lot (around $72,000!!)into the rickshaws one might see peddling around Chicago.
Powered by human muscle, these modes of transportation yield zero pollution. If you’re not in too much of a hurry, these things are a great way to get around. Roger also offers tours- the most popular one being the Wrigleyville tour. You can also rent these rides by the hour, day, week, etc.

Roger boasted about his great employees and says without them his business would not be as successful as it is today. As those employees know, Roger stresses one thing as being the most important- SAFETY.

As far as the story itself, I was just trying to have fun with this one. In the editing process, I could not avoid some jumpo cuts, I jut have to get better at shooting, not nreaking the 180 degree rule.

There was no controversy, no official transcripts to read, no law to interpret. Just a good time riding around in a rickshaw with Roger. One thing I learned is that pedicab is not in the dictionary- I added it to mine.

The vegan teacher…

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
What a week! After re-editing my first package- some issues needed to be taken care of- it was off to Williams Bay, Wis. I arranged a meeting to interview Dave Warwak, the vegan teacher fired by the school board in suburban Fox River Grove.

I read about this case and found myself with more questions than answers. I sought to find the truth.
To me, this case cannot be broken down in black and white. There is a lot of grey area. Warwak made some mistakes during this ordeal. The truth is, Warwak made too many waves too quickly. Transformations of the school curriculum and menu choices, mandated by our government, will never happen as quickly as Warwak wanted them to. But he did what he felt he had to do. It was brave of him to do what he did, despite the fact that he could of gone about it in a more subtle way. This is a very sensitive issue, and the parties involved were caught up in the emotion.
As a journalist, I want to be the one who stands in the middle of such controversy. I try to separate the emotional side and stick to facts. That’s all I ever do as a journalist. I read over 80 pages of the records from the dismissal hearing. I read every newspaper article written about this case since April of 2007. I know more about this case than I set out to. I did more reporting and researching than will be found in a two minute news story. I understand why some parents were upset and why the school fired him. I know this started with the reaction to the “Peep Project.” I understand how Warwak quarreled with the head of the cafeteria about removing posters promoting drinking milk. And I understand how it evolved into Warwak being insubordinate to his superiors, ultimately leading to his termination.

I want to listen to what both sides have to say and then report the story. I really wanted to include quotes from parents, students, anyone that will talk. The trouble with a story involving children is that I cannot interview a child without their parent’s consent. I contacted the principal of his former school and made a call to the District 3 administration. I included what little information I was given. Due to time restrictions- a deadline must be observed in all of this- I could not track down Warwak’s former students, contact each of their parents, get my camera and microphone and go to each child’s house. I wanted to have something like that in the story. In fact, if a parent of a former student contacted me now that the story has aired, I would pitch a follow up story to the NBC news team. I would be there, mic and camera in hand, and give them a chance to tell their side.

I did my best to be neutral. I am not for or against veganism or what the school board did when they fired Warwak. It is not my job or my place to pick a side. That’s for the public to do. All I ask is that people look at both sides with an open mind as I did.

Sun 2 Me 0 after two (stories)

  

Here I go into week number two determined to do this story a little better than the last. I know the content will not compete with the auctioneer license story. But I’m trying to do better with shot selection and editing in place of content for a week.

So let me get the mistakes out of the way…this one was similar to the mistake I made last week in the fact that it involves sunlight. That means the sun is up two nil on me after two stories. I should have used the ND filter when shooting in the bright afternoon sun. You will notice in the package a few shots were “whited out” because too much light was being allowed into the iris. I did adjust the f-stop, I used a higher number to reduce the light, but that was not enough. The shots don’t look too bad..but in my world of striving for perfection (knowing I’ll inevitably fall just shy of that goal) I could have done better. The Neutral Density filter would have allowed even less light through the iris and gave a cleaner and better shot- especially the stuff from the Ford dealer as you will see in the piece. Lesson number two involving light leaned- learn to love the ND filter right about noon on a sunny day.

This story has been done, but not this way. Instead of focusing on gas prices, I wanted to see if SUV sales were being affected by the gas prices. I found out more about SUV’s losing trade-in value and some car  dealers are reluctant to take SUVs.  I wanted to find out if the trend has hurt small used car dealers that sell these SUVs. It turns out is does hurt, but the wise car dealers take in more small, compact cars, and they stay away from SUVs.

I pitched this story two weeks ago, the same day I pitched the auctioneer/eBay story..and decided to go for it this week after discussing it with the NBC news team at the Monday morning meeting. On Sunday, in the Sun Times, the cover story was about how $5.00 gas prices could be the death of the SUV. So I guess I’m a little disappointed because it now seems like I borrowed the Sun Times story for my piece. I know that is not true and I will take solace in the fact that my news judgment is good and forward-thinking.

As the market shifts, these small used car lots must be careful. Do they consider taking a chance by getting a great deal on an SUV? Or do they supply what the public demands- more fuel efficient cars? It seems the answer is to buy up smaller cars. It might seem like a steal to purchase a large SUV at a 30-40% decline in cost compared to a year or two ago. But if one cannot afford the fuel needed for the Sport Utility Vehicle, it sadly becomes nothing more than a Stationary Utility Vehicle.

 

 

First story- it’s in the books

Brian Anthony Miller, NBC5 Next
I began researching this story in an investigative reporting class at Columbia College. Sam Roe, the Pulitzer Prize winning investigative reporter for the Chicago Tribune, directed the class to the Web site of the Illinois Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. Mr. Roe’s intent was to show us anyone can find a good story if they know where to look- the board’s discipline reports.

I was looking for something that stuck out. After scrolling through a few months of Discipline reports, I spotted a couple from northwest suburban Crystal Lake who were fined $10,000 each for auctioneering without a license. After debating if anyone would care about a story like this and wondering about the details, I set forth on a mission to find out what happened.

It wasn’t until a few months later that I would get to turn this story into the enterprise piece I had envisioned it becoming. Trying to find a story written about William and Bonnie Speechley proved to be difficult. I could find nothing written specifically about this case. I tried Google, then Nexis, then the local newspaper’s websites. Nothing. And for my intention of an enterprise story, one that had never been reported before, this was a very good thing.

On Monday, I began making calls and tried to get the ball rolling on this story. I called the Illinois State Association of Auctioneers (located, by the way, in Wisconsin- go figure) and spoke with Maxine O’Brien. She gave me some good quotes and clarified her association’s views on eBay stores and the Illinois Auction Act. She was not familiar with the Speechleys’ case, but when I told her about the fines, she said “Good!” Her opinion on the case was obvious. She told me to call an administrative assistant, Susan, with the Illinois Auction board, so I did. Susan said she could not comment on anything that was related to this case, but she was present at the hearing where the decision was made to fine the Speechleys. Then, I contacted Sue Hofer of the IDFPR. She gave me some good information, but would not comment on the specifics of the case.

The first snafu I encountered was that my main source for the story- the Speechleys-were on vacation. After leaving a couple of messages on Monday and Tuesday, I got to speak with Bill Speechley on Wednesday. After some persuasion, I convinced Bill this story needed to be told, and the story would not jeopardize his chances of having the fines dropped by an administrative judge.

I interviewed Bill at his office, A Video and Image Company in Crystal Lake. Despite a few technical mistakes by me, (I interviewed Bill with a window behind him due to space limitations- a mistake I regret making) the interview went quite well.

I then set off to get the other elements of this story. I found an owner of a sell it on eBay store that was doing business without a license. I told him about the story and the Speechley case. I offered him a deal. I would not reveal his name, identity, or take any shots of his business in exchange for an anonymous interview. I agreed not to show his face and he agreed to sit down and talk. You could say I have my first confidential source as a journalist. And no one will ever know who that source is.

I am not a good editor, and my camera skills need some work. But content-wise I feel like I nailed this story, despite having to leave out some good information due to time restrictions of the piece. I shot this story on Wednesday, and I spent most of Thursday editing at the college. I would have never finished without the help of Aaron Owens, the nighttime work aid and Avid genius at Columbia. He really helped me out a lot– so if you’re reading this– THANKS AARON.

I learned a lot and in the end, I felt like I did a pretty good job- not great, not terrible- but pretty good–and I’m ready for the next story on NBC Next.

Confused

Mary Elizabeth Medawar, NBC5 Next

I finally shot the last of my interviews today, but alas, my work is just beginning. I bought a MacBook Pro a couple weeks ago because my PC crashed right before finals for the millionth time. I have wanted to get a new computer for a while and this gave me a valid excuse. So with this amazing new machine I was determined to do all my video editing from home, rather than spending endless hours in the editing lab. However, what I neglected to recognize at the time was that editing from my home computer would create a plethora of problems I wouldn’t have otherwise encountered. I first had to figure out how to transfer the video from the camera onto my computer. Okay, not so hard, buy a firewire. Then I realized there wasn’t enough room on my computer for the video files, which again, after a few calls my confidence was restored. Answer: buy an external hard-drive. Overcoming the first couple hurdles was simple.
But the predicament in which I am currently entangled is teaching myself Final Cut in the next few hours so I can successfully edit my package. I always heard it was user friendly, unlike the demonized Avid, so I assumed it would be a simple learning process and I would be editing in no time. I was wrong.
Never assume you can teach yourself the ins and outs of new software overnight without a tutorial or any guidance. Lesson learned.

Orientation

Mary Elizabeth Medawar, NBC5 Next

Yesterday was the intern luncheon and orientation. The grand event was kicked off with food, introductions and jokes about the hefty pay we receive. Basically, we filled out paperwork and went through the rules and policies for NBC employees (and interns). One thing that actually penetrated me was a story about the station manager. He acquired a weekend job of answering the phone for Channel 2, I believe it was, during his senior year of college. Every weekend he would show up to work nights (it was a third-shift job) dressed in a shirt and tie. Presumably, few people were at the station, if anyone. Yet he continually showed up for work with professional attire and did his best to pass along breaking stories or anything else he deemed important. This college student who answered phones all night became the station manager of NBC5 in Chicago.
Don’t dress for the job you have; dress for the job you want.

It Starts

Mary Elizabeth Medawar, NBC5 Next

This is so ridiculously confusing. It has officially taken me 50 times longer to maneuver through this site than it will to write this post. I have never blogged before and must admit, it is much more difficult than I ever imagined. So here it goes..

As of yesterday I am an NBC5 Next intern and am already anticipating the completion of my first story. I didn’t really have expectations as to what my first day would entail, but it was a lot like I expected. Brian (the other intern) and I pitched our stories at the morning meeting and received helpful feedback. By next week we each must complete one package and also write a print version for the Web. Realistically, one week is an extensive amount of time for a story, but I am used to being in school and having about two or three weeks. There is no time to squander. Welcome to the real world.